A client is typically configured, by a user, to save a dump of client system memory in the event of a client system crash. This is generally achieved by saving client system memory dump data before the client is rebooted, following a crash, to either system swap or dedicated local dump devices. If a system swap is utilized to save dump data, any data saved onto the swap will be overwritten when the operating system reboots and reuses the swap. In order to save memory dump data from the system swap to a dedicated dump device or a preconfigured dump server, a further process must be performed during system reboot and this contributes further to the time taken to reboot and thus the total down-time experienced.
Also, typical clients now support a greater number of features and extensions which have increased both the size of the memory dump data footprint and the likelihood of a client system crash. As a result, the total client system down-time during a crash has increased. This is particularly undesirable in situations where critical data is handled such as online shopping servers, financial data processing servers and online database servers.
Attempts have been made to reduce total down-time and the time taken to save memory dump data during reboot. These include saving the memory dump data across a network either by transferring directly to a dedicated dump server or onto a Network File System (NFS) exported dump device. However, problems such as reliability and availability exist with saving to a single server. Also, the time taken to transfer the information saved as part of the dump, is still a significant portion of the total down-time.